Equilibrium properties of charged microgels: a Poisson-Boltzmann-Flory approach

Abstract

The equilibrium properties of ionic microgels are investigated using a combination of the Poisson-Boltzmann and Flory theories. Swelling behavior, density profiles, and effective charges are all calculated in a self-consistent way. Special attention is given to the effects of salinity on these quantities. It is found that the equilibrium microgel size is strongly influenced by the amount of added salt. Increasing the salt concentration leads to a considerable reduction of the microgel volume, which therefore releases its internal material -- solvent molecules and dissociated ions -- into the solution. Finally, the question of charge renormalization of ionic microgels in the context of the cell model is briefly addressed.

References in corpus (2)

• Local theory for ions in binary liquid mixtures
• Self-assembly of spherical interpolyelectrolyte complexes from oppositely charged polymers

Cited by in corpus (11)

• Swelling, Structure, and Phase Stability of Compressible Microgels
• Counterion-Induced Swelling of Ionic Microgels
• Swelling of ionic microgel particles in the presence of excluded-volume interactions: a density functional approach
• Charge Regulation of Polyelectrolyte Gels: Swelling Transition
• Modeling deswelling, thermodynamics, structure, and dynamics in ionic microgel suspensions
• Ionic Size Effects on the Poisson-Boltzmann Theory
• Osmotic Pressure and Swelling Behavior of Ionic Microcapsules
• Equilibrium conformations and surface charge regulation of spherical polymer brushes in stretched regimes
• Effective interactions, structure, and pressure in charge-stabilized colloidal suspensions: Critical assessment of charge renormalization methods
• Osmotic Swelling Behavior of Surface-Charged Ionic Microgels
• Electrolytes in regimes of strong confinements: surface charge modulations, osmotic equilibrium and electroneutrality